Editor’s Introduction by Jennifer Browdy
As I wrote recently in my Transition Times blog, poet Amanda Gorman offered a shining example at the 2021 United States Presidential Inauguration of how arts activism can lead the way towards social transformation.
It’s not a new insight—artists have always been the dreamers, the ones out on the edges of possibility, daring the conformists to see things differently.
The young people who contributed to this Fired Up! special edition are all part of that inspiring vanguard, beckoning us to imagine what Bioneers co-founder Nina Simons calls “full-spectrum leadership,” a world that values the “feminine” qualities of nurturing as much as the “masculine” qualities of warriorship—qualities that are available to every human regardless of body type, and equally necessary to successfully lead us through the multiple crises of our time.
We hope you will get fired up as you savor these pieces, and will begin to think about how you can cultivate your passions, in your communities, with other like-minded spirits, to make positive change for us all.
